The index is a percentage, not a price
A cost of living index isn't a dollar figure — it's a percentage of the national average, fixed at exactly 100 by definition. An index of 110 means prices for the same basket of goods and services run about 10% above the national average; an index of 90 means about 10% below. The number only becomes meaningful once you compare it to something — the national baseline, or another place's index.
How BEA builds the index
BEA's Regional Price Parities combine price and expenditure data across roughly 170 spending categories — housing, food, apparel, medical care, transportation, and more — into a single index per place, using a statistical method called the Geary multilateral index. It weights each category the way actual consumer spending is weighted, rather than treating every category equally, so the result reflects how people actually spend, not a simple average across categories.
All-items vs. component indices
BEA publishes an overall "all-items" index alongside separate component indices for goods, rents, utilities, and other services. Only the all-items national aggregate is defined as exactly 100 by construction — each component is its own independently-solved sub-index, and can land slightly above or below 100 nationally. The rents component, for instance, sits at 100.6 nationally in the 2024 data, not precisely 100.
Frequently asked questions
What does a cost of living index of 110 mean?
It means prices for the same basket of goods and services run about 10% above the national average (which is fixed at exactly 100). An index of 90 means about 10% below average.
Who publishes the cost of living index used here?
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), via its Regional Price Parities program — the same government data behind BEA's real personal income statistics, not a third-party estimate.
Is the index the same as inflation?
No. Inflation measures how prices change over TIME in one place. The cost of living index measures how prices differ ACROSS places at the same point in time.
Worked examples
Reading an index above 100
New York-Newark-Jersey City vs. the U.S. average.
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ's index is 112.6 — about 12.6 points above the national baseline of 100, meaning prices there run roughly 13% above average.
Reading an index below 100
Mississippi's index relative to the baseline.
Mississippi's index is 87.0 — about 13.0 points below the national baseline of 100, meaning a nominal $100 spent in Mississippi is really worth about $115 of national-average purchasing power — a below-100 index means your money goes further, not less far.
What affects the result
The index is relative, not absolute
An index of 110 doesn't mean anything on its own — it means "10% above the national average." The index only becomes useful once you compare two values (a place to the national baseline, or two places to each other).
All-items vs. component indices
BEA publishes the all-items index (the whole basket) alongside component indices for goods, rents, utilities, and other services. Only the all-items national aggregate is defined as exactly 100 — the components can and do land slightly above or below 100 nationally.
Common mistakes to avoid
- ✗Reading an index value as a dollar amount — it is a relative price level, not a cost figure by itself.
- ✗Assuming every component index is anchored to exactly 100 nationally the way the all-items index is — the rents component, in particular, is not (see the model assumptions).
Practical takeaways
- ✓Think of the index as "cents on the dollar" relative to the national average, not a standalone price.
- ✓Always compare two index values together (place vs. baseline, or place vs. place) — a single index number in isolation just tells you the direction, not a usable dollar figure.
Key terms
- Regional Price Parity (RPP)
- A BEA index measuring how price levels for the same mix of goods, services, and rent differ across US states and metro areas, expressed as a percentage of the national average (100). An RPP of 110 means prices there run about 10% above the national average; 90 means about 10% below.
- All-items basis
- The overall cost-of-living index — a weighted composite covering housing, goods, utilities, and other services. This is the default, whole-basket comparison.
- Geary multilateral index
- The statistical method BEA uses to build RPPs — it aggregates price and expenditure data across roughly 170 spending categories and thousands of counties into a single, internally consistent price-level index for every state and metro area.
More questions answered
What does an index of exactly 100 mean?
Prices there match the national average exactly, on the all-items basis. BEA defines the national all-items composite as exactly 100 by construction — every place is indexed relative to that fixed reference point.
Can the rents index be above 100 nationally?
The rents index specifically is not pinned to exactly 100 the way the all-items index is — it is its own independently-solved component. In the 2024 data it lands at 100.6, not precisely 100 — see the model assumptions for the full explanation.
Model assumptions & disclosures
Source: BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024 vintage. Every figure on this page comes from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis's Regional Price Parities (state table SARPP, metro table MARPP), released February 19, 2026. This is the same government data behind BEA's own real personal income statistics — not a third-party cost-of-living estimate. BEA's next release (the 2025 vintage) is scheduled for December 10, 2026; figures here will not reflect that update until this site's data is regenerated afterward.
Pre-tax — state and local income tax are not modeled. Regional Price Parities measure differences in the price of goods, services, and rent across places. They say nothing about what you'd actually keep after state or local income tax, sales tax, or property tax — all of which vary independently of cost of living and are real, separate factors in any relocation or job-offer decision.
The "Rent only" basis is a renters' index, not a homeowner's housing cost. BEA defines this series specifically: rents RPPs are estimated only for observed tenants' actual rents and an imputed rental-equivalent value for owner-occupied homes — they do not include a homeowner's own mortgage payment, property tax, insurance, or maintenance costs. If you own your home, switching to "Rent only" shows what a tenant pays in each place, not your own housing expense — it is never a stand-in for "housing costs" broadly.
Metro-area rents are a 3-year average, not a single-year snapshot. BEA estimates state-level rents from a single year of Census American Community Survey (ACS) data, but metro-area rents from a smoothed 3-year ACS average — metro areas are smaller geographies and need the extra years of data for a reliable sample. That smoothing is real: Coeur d'Alene, ID's metro rents index moved from 99.7 to 117.2 and back to 105.6 across the three years folded into the 2024 figure alone. A metro rents number is a multi-year average, not "as of 2024" the way the all-items and state figures are.
Not financial advice. This calculator provides an estimate to help you plan a comparison, not a guarantee of what you'd actually pay or earn in either place. Combine it with your own research — including actual job offers, tax rates, and cost quotes for your specific situation — before making a relocation or compensation decision.